Rizzo is in San Diego, but not with the Padres. The team's prized prospect was shipped to the Cubs last offseason, and — just the Padres' luck — he has sizzled since being summoned from Triple-A on June 26.

Now a tourist, Rizzo arrived with a .310 average, nine home runs and 23 RBIs in just 129 at-bats. Did the Padres really need to trade him for injured flamethrower Andrew Cashner?

"I'm a big Andrew Cashner fan, and I think he's going to be a good one,'' said Bob Brenly, the former Arizona manager working as a Cubs TV analyst. "The Padres have a real good one for the future, and we think we have one, too.''

Too bad Rizzo was Petco'd — or at least that was among the reasons for the Padres' decision to trade him. Rizzo's elongated swing, so said the Padres, wouldn't fit with Petco Park's dimensional challenges, weather patterns and anything else you'd like to offer.

Does that sound about right, Anthony, who hit .141 in 49 games with the Padres?

"I mean, the ballpark could have been a T-ball field and I wouldn't have hit a ball,'' Rizzo said. "I just wasn't hitting the ball; that was the biggest thing. I was not hitting the fastball or pretty much anything.''

But when the Padres allowed general manager Jed Hoyer to flee to Chicago, many speculated that Rizzo wasn't far behind. Hoyer had obtained Rizzo in Boston and San Diego, so Chicago was the assumed trifecta.

Maybe Rizzo's woe in San Diego was that he tried too hard. While detractors noted his slow path through the hitting zone, Rizzo said his problem was higher.

"It was probably between the ears,'' he said. "The first time around here was crazy, and it was a lot to take in and a lot of different things happened. Obviously, it didn't go the way I wanted it to.''

So away he went to the Windy City, where he has been embraced as if he owns a private spigot to the Old Style brewery.

"With the kind of year we're having in Chicago, he's been a ray of sunshine for the fans,'' Brenly said. "It gave them something to look forward to, a reason to come back to the ballpark.''

Rizzo, who turns 23 on Wednesday, was supposed to do all that here. But the main piece coming west when the Padres traded All-Star Adrian Gonzalez to Boston fell flat before finding fantastic.

Like San Diego did, Chicago went bonkers when Rizzo dug in. Unlike in San Diego, Rizzo handled it.

"I was prepared more this time coming up,'' Rizzo said. "Basically it was the same thing, but I took it with a grain of salt. I was anxious to get on the field and prove myself, more than anything.''